


Get in Line

by Straccia_Tella



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Nico POV?, Nico would have been the first to punch Leo don't lie, canon compliance, very minimal violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-21 12:16:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9548669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Straccia_Tella/pseuds/Straccia_Tella
Summary: After their battle, Leo Valdez had suddenly decided to grace the camp with his presence. He knew he hadn't been dead, but just seeing the Son of Hephaestus breathing in front of him made Nico want to punch his teeth out.





	

Nico was conflicted at what he should do as Festus landed on the camp grounds, hissing loudly as steam billowed from its mouth. Everyone gathered in a circle around the bronze dragon like they weren’t sure if this was an illusion or even another trick. Then as if on cue, the scraggly-haired pointed eared son of Hephaestus slipped off the back of his mechanical friend and patted him affectionately. The boy turned to look at the campers, greeting them with that same mischievous grin along with a mad glint in his eye, like he had cheated death (which he had).  
“What’s up guys? Leo Valdez is back in business!”

  


Had Nico held different feelings towards this person, he (possibly) would have whooped in glee to finally see Leo breathing and alive. But no, instead, he was the first to walk up to the grinning demigod and stopped in his tracks once they were face to face. Will was at his side, letting this boyfriend lean on him for support. He watched as Leo turned to help a girl who he assumed was Calypso slide off of Festus’ back before returning his attention to the son of Hades.

Nico was angry, practically seething and Hephaestus forgive him, but if he had more energy he would have tackled Leo and punched the living daylights out of the demigod. Yet, he didn’t show any of these emotions, as far as Leo could tell Nico was just in shock.

“Hey, Nico,” Leo said as if they just talked to each other yesterday.

“…” From the way Leo reacted to Nico’s silent response, he could tell the other was nervous.

_If looks could kill, he would already be in the Underworld by now…_ Nico thought.

"Welcome back, Leo," Will said in Nico's place. "Glad to see you in one piece."

Nico took out the scroll that Leo had used as a message to notify the others after the war of where he was, that he had freed Calypso, and how he was alive and kicking. It crinkled in his hand as his fist slowly enclosed around it.

“Just over six months…”

“Don’t glare, man. It’ll be bad if you get wrinkles on your forehead.” Leo grinned and sheepishly fiddled with his jacket. “You’re not mad anymore, right? I’m alive, back and ready for action!”

Nico hesitated and then took another step forward, feeling Will's grip on him loosen as he let him approach Leo, but stayed close enough so he could catch him just in case. Nico slowly put one of his hands on Leo’s shoulder and muttered, “I did miss you.”

Expecting a hug, Leo (foolishly) outstretched his arms. Nico clenched his right hand where his skull ring was on, inhaled and then punched Leo’s gut as hard as he could. Leo puffed out a large breath of air as he crumpled to the ground. Calypso winced but made no move to help and the other camper’s echoed a sympathetic “ooh”. Nico shook his hand, turning to see Will giving him a disapproving look that said: “was that really necessary?” the son of Hades shrugged his shoulders thinking “worth it”.

“Urgh…” Leo groaned, cracking one eye open as he glanced up at Nico again. “W-we good now, buddy?”

“Yeah,” Nico replied, with a grin of his own and offered a hand to Leo. “We’re good.”

Leo was more hesitant to take the hand, but in the end grasped it and was pulled up.

“Welcome back, Valdez.”

Leo patted Nico’s shoulder, and the son of Hades could feel gentle and faint warmth spreading from where Leo touched. He wondered if he was doing his “son of Hephaestus” thing.

“It’s good to be home,” Leo said, but when he looked at Nico’s face however, he yelped.

“Don’t be so sure,” the son of Hades threatened with a dark smile, he was sure he was emanating some black smoke off of his body and he didn’t care. If anything, he was pleased to have gotten such a scared reaction out of Leo.

“Hey, that’s no fair!” A camper exclaimed. “How come di Angelo got to punch him?”

“I called dibs a long time ago!” Nico replied and suddenly an idea popped into his head, he turned the ring on his finger thoughtfully, another dark grin slowly creeping onto his face. “But... that wouldn’t be fair, wouldn’t it? Everyone stay here and nobody move!”

Although he was still a bit woozy from his previous shadow-traveling trip, he suddenly had the energy to sprint towards the infirmary. Once inside, he grabbed a bucket that was filled with stickers and lollipops and dumped them unceremoniously out on the desk. It made a mess, but Will could scold him later. Next he dashed over to a drawer where there were cards labeled with bold black numbers. He threw all of those into the bucket and then sprinted back to the others, slightly out of breath. He shook his head to clear the dizziness and held up the bucket like he had won a game of Capture the Flag.

“To all of those who want to get to punch Leo, get in line and take a number!”

In one of the rare moments of his life, people began to swarm around him excitedly. They were all trying to stretch their hands into the bucket like he had just announced that it was Christmas. He usually would have been against people coming up to him, but this was a moment he was willing to make an exception on.

“Wait, _what_!?” Leo shrieked as his eyes quickly scanned over the number of campers (the Hephaestus cabin in particular) that were roughly pushing each other aside despite the recent battle. Nico figured the only words they processed were "punch" and "Leo", specifically in that order.

“Alright! Hey, hey, no pushing! _I said no pushing_! You’ll get a number once you form a _decent line_!” Nico began holding out the bucket to the first camper and yelled over the small forming crowd. “Take a number and wait your turn to punch Leo!”

“ _Dude, are you serious_?!” Leo’s eyes began looking legitimately worried, which wasn’t any of Nico’s concern.

“You sacrificed yourself only to turn up missing for six months, worried, and angered a lot of your friends. You also sent in that message to let us know you were still alive which only served to piss us off more.” Nico wasn’t sure how many times he grinned that day, but it was enough to make Leo shrink in fear. “Now, it’s payback time.”

**Author's Note:**

> I would have killed to hear Nico's POV when Leo returned.


End file.
